Educational Foundations
Chapter 8: Today’s Students
Outline: pp. (250-286)
Becoming A Teacher
1. How is DIVERSITY embedded in the culture of the U.S.?
A. Changing faces in U.S.:
· 2010, blacks and Hispanics will equal white population
· 2025, half youth will be white, half “minority”
· 2050, no one group will be a racial majority among adults
B. Impact on schools:
“In 2007, 41.3% of public school students were considered to be part of a minority group, and INCREASE of more than 19 percentage points from 1972.” (p. 252)
1. 2007: Latino students 19.2% of enrollment (up by more than 13 percentage points from 1972)
2. 2007: African-Americans 17.3% of enrollment (up by more than 3 percentage points from 1972)
3. 2007: Other minorities 5.7% (up from 1 percentage point in 1972)
· Increased demand for bilingual programs and teachers (ESL, ELL, LEP)
· Critical shortage of minority teachers
· Need for curricula and strategies that address the needs and backgrounds of ALL students
·
C. CULTURE: the way of life common to a group of people.
Values, attitudes, beliefs that influence their traditions and behaviors; way of interacting with and looking at the world
· “melting pot” or “salad bowl”? Explain difference
· cultural pluralism = distinguishing characteristics of cultures are to be preserved rather than blended into a single culture
1. National Macroculture = shared culture in U.S.
2. Ethnic groups: subculture defined by racial or cultural identity and set of beliefs, attitudes and values
3. Cultural identity determined by membership in subcultures:
Age (AARP), racial identity, exceptionalities, language, gender, sexual orientation, income, beliefs and values
4. LANGUAGE: culture embedded in language
a) bilingual education: using two languages to instruct
NOTE: not all LEP students are LITERATE in their native language
WHY USE: three distinct viewpoints (Video: Lost in Translation)
1. Bilingual Education = teach primarily in native language for
limited # years;
intention: instruction in English only
2. Dual language = instruction in two (multiple) languages;
intention: maintain both (all languages)
3. English Language Immersion = all instruction in English
intention: all instruction only in English
· states report over 400 languages spoken by LEP students
· between 1989-2004, public school LEP student enrollment increased by 146% nationwide)
· language patterns: differ by social class
5. Multiculturalism: believe it is important to view the world from different point cultural points-of-view and value all cultures
· PURPOSE of Teaching: prepare students to live in a culturally pluralistic world
How do we do this in small, rural settings?
6. ETHNICITY: shared feeling of common identity,
ancestral origin, set of values, and set of experiences
7. RACE: subjective concept used to distinguish among human beings on the basis of biological traits and characteristics
· How many? Based on what characteristics?
8. Minority Groups: technically, any group numbering less than ½ the total population; however, which group(s) have power?
a. Academic Achievement:
· Ethnic minorities 2-4 times as likely to drop out of H.S.
· overrepresented in special education
· disproportionately high rates of suspension/expulsion
*socioeconomic status, not race, language or culture, contributes MOST STRONGLY to students’ achievement in school*
· LEP students and success
9. Stereotyping and Racism: attributing behavioral characteristics to all members of a group
a) individual racism = belief that one’s ethnic or racial group is
superior to others
b) institutional racism = established laws, customs and practices
which systematically reflect and
produce racial inequalities in American
society.
10. AFRICAN-AMERICANS
· 13% of the total population in the U.S. (15% by 2040)
(increase to15% by 2040)
· Desegregation: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954. Struck down separate-but-equal doctrine
· Resegregation: What? Why?
· Learning Strengths and Needs: cooperation, oral/aural activities
· Afrocentric schools
11. LATINOS/HISPANICS
· Fastest growing minority group in the U.S.
2010: 14%, surpassing African Americans as largest
minority group
· Children of migrant workers: language, poverty, irregular school attendance
· Language barrier
12. ASIANS/PACIFIC ISLANDERS
· 4% of total U.S. population (8% by 2040)
· cultural conflicts between family and societal norms/values
13. NATIVE AMERICANS/ALASKAN NATIVES
· Less than 1% of total US population
· Education for children living on reservations administered by
BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs)
a) Indian Education Act of 1972, amended in 1974
Provide direct educational assistance to tribes
· Upbringing encourages a view of the world that is holistic, intimate and shared
2. BILINGUAL EDUCATION: four types (Figure 8.7, p. 273)
a) Immersion (English only)
b) Transition (use first language in class, taught ESL, when English is sufficiently mastered, first language is discontinued)
c) Maintenance (instruction in both languages throughout K-12 to maintain/develop both languages)
d) Pull-Out (taken out of class to learn English or reading lessons in their first language)
3. MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION: What does it mean?
· James Banks: “consists of five dimensions:
a) Content Integration
b) Knowledge Construction
c) Prejudice Reduction
d) Equity Pedagogy
e) Empowering School Culture
Gender as a dimension of multicultural education:
a) sex-role stereotyping = societal forces condition boys and girls to
act in certain ways, regardless of abilities or interests
b) sex-role socialization = ways society expects boys/girls to act
1997 research: boys and girls score very similarly on standardized
2008 AAUW Report:
“Family income, NOT gender, is most closely associated with academic success…If a crisis exists, it is a crisis for African-American and Hispanic students and students from lower-income families-BOTH girls and boys.” (p. 282)
c) gender bias = subtle favoritism or discrimination based on gender
4. SEXUAL ORIENTATION
gay/lesbian minority that often feel unsupportive, unable to talk with
faculty, and fearful that faculty had negative attitudes towards
gays/lesbians
a) estimates: 10% of population may be gay/lesbian
b) hostility may cause students to feel confused, isolated, and self-
destructive